Hi. Long story short I’m a conflict resolution specialist who’s invented a number of useful tools for Open Source Governance, and I want to showcase them, but I don’t think Wordpress has the ability to generate them. (things like hypertext icons that open into open debates with particular functions installed, or the ability to add new ‘layers’ to posts so ‘biologists’ or anyone else can create their own side of any collaboration for people in their own field) I’m looking for advice.
Do I just make everything I can in Wordpress, then go about trying to learn to make patches or some other medium I can plug into wordpress, (like tiny sub-tutorials within the mochup site)?
Do I avoid Wordpress entirely and start from scratch (I’m clinically dyslexic, for me writing decent HTML is a challenge but dammit I believe in this project so I’ll do whatever I have to to succeed)
Or am I just being dumb and should look for someone who’s actually good at this stuff and could make an easy 100 bucks out of it?
Why are you considering Wordpress for this if it doesn’t do what you need? How did you develop these useful tools in the first place? Could you link to your code?
The features were designed conceptually, through sketching up mockups in GIMP, and sharing ideas with professors and others. Basically these are tools for civic intelligence designed by a psych major. We’ve had programmers contact us about volunteering but no one’s been able to figure out where to start so we’ve been at a total standstill on code. I think we need to do an SRS.
To make an SRS more possible we’re thinking it’s time to make a functional mockup, and being dyslexic I’m afraid designing from scratch is just gonna get me a pile of crap. I’ve enjoyed messing around on Wordpress but I just don’t think it can imitate two particularly important important features I’d like to offer. I don’t know what to do.
You’d need a web dev that can design the database schema for this application, and program all the necessary pieces to make this work exactly the way you want to.
WordPress is great for easy posting of blogs/content/news. But would not work for a custom functionality like this.
LOL. $100? This is not a $100 job. Maybe a couple thousands on the low-end of the scale.
What you can do right now is create a detailed functional specs, and do RFQs. Then you’ll see what kind of bids/project estimates you’ll get based on your functional specs.
Well, Wordpress is pretty heavy duty and is built with blog hosting in mind. It’s not the best way to get a generic web app running, and might end up spending a lot of time fighting it. I’d recommend forgetting about Wordpress. As I see it, you have at least two options:
Depending on how functional this mockup needs to be, you could get away with using a program like Pencil to make something interactive. Balsamiq is the popular alternative, but it’s not free or open source.
Just do it. Who cares if the code is crap? It doesn’t have to look great or work well, it just needs to communicate an idea, right? Get something started, and if you run into problems, you can ask questions here. You probably don’t even need to have all of your features on one page, so think about splitting up your examples into separate, smaller projects. Codepen was built for just this sort of thing.
I agree with @PortableStick, Pencil is good tool for creating mockups. It’s our default tool for mockups where I work, we have a very limited budget for tools.
You might want to start with some of the basics like creating User stories for the functionality. Instead of thinking about how to create a car, think about the individual components of a car.
Just wanted to note… I too have dyslexia, I omit letters, mix up letters in words, mix up words in a sentence and often use the completely wrong word entirely. I also repeat words in place of other words like “There there a sun in the sky” when I mean to say There is… And its not just writing, I do it when speaking too…
Ive learned through life that I need to write and speak very deliberately… when Im excited or in a rush, all bets are off. Anyway, just wanted to let you know, dont let that get in the way of learning to do anything. The nice thing about code is…if its not right it wont work. Period. So its just a matter of finding where I went wrong and fixing it. I consider my shortcomings a benefit though, cause I never take it for granted that Im correct…Im at all times very cautious and aware of what Im writing which I think helps me code better.
Anyway, you got really good advice on the project itself… so true, what you are describing is not remotely a $100 project and there are better tools for the job. Just wanted to touch on something you brought up that means a lot to me, and hopefully will help anyone else who may feel like they cant do this for the same reason to see that in actuality, they certainly can.
Thanks a ton guys, Pencil is definitely a helpful program. -But I’m having a rough time getting it to do interactive presentations. I googled it and ran into a program called Justinmind, which’ll probably take me awhile to figure out but should be able to do everything. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. This looks like it’ll be a lot easier than trying to make Wordpress work.